Five local buses, two rickshaws and a donkey ride later we had arrived. For those unfamiliar with a local bus they're amazing. Anything goes. You can spit and throw rubbish on the floor to your hearts content. We didn't spy any other tourists but made friends with plenty of the locals.
The next afternoon we set off to see the national park. There are two ways, by jeep or canter (a modified truck which seats about 30 people). We opted for the canter.
Entering the park is like Kiplings Jungle Book meets Jurassic Park. Large stone gateway entrances lead onto sloping plains covered in jungle and scrub. Tourists in safari gear (probably purchased especially for this occasion) with ridiculously over-sized cameras crane their necks at the slightest movement and hang off every word from the tour guide.
You have a 25% chance of seeing a tiger and they only come out at dusk (or dawn) so the first two hours is spent looking at deer, crocodiles and plenty of birds, some of which had obviously seen humans before.
With our time running out and the closest sighting of a tiger being some old foot prints, the driver turned and headed for home. We were only slightly disappointed because the other animals and the whole safari experience was very cool. As we were passing through the exit gates another canter was parked up, a sure sign that there's something worth seeing.
Giving the popular piece of jungle our full attention we were rewarded by hearing a roar and seeing a flash of tiger. By now more canters had arrived on the seen but our driver had managed to weasel his way into the best vantage point. To our delight a tiger strolled between bushes and paused in the open for a good couple of minutes. Creating an instant photographic frenzy and cries of "look a tiger!" (really? is that really a tiger? are you sure? and they don't like noise so we should be quiet?). His mate came along behind him so not only did we see a tiger but we saw two!
With our mission completed in one attempt we were rather pleased with ourselves. We decided to haul west across Rajasthan. After arriving by train in Kota a local recommended that we visit the town park which we did. The Chambal river runs next to the park and we basked in the glory of the massive power plants on the other side - nature at it's best.
A local art competition was underway and two girls approached to show us some of the pieces on display. We found ourselves in a ridiculous situation - swamped by Indian paparazzi and being quizzed on where we come from, our names, what we think of India etc etc we were interrogated for a good 30 minutes. If we had of bought a paper the next day we are confident we'd be on the front page.
Kota doesn't get a favourable review in our guide book and it isn't a mainstream tourist destination. The young locals we met weren't too chuffed on the place either, referring to it as "the city of thieves". Coming from locals, we can only imagine what it's like for tourists!It was a good thing that we'd organised an overnight bus to take us to the brightlights of Udaipur. Unfortunately the bus turned out to be a local bus which meant the three of us sat shoulder to shoulder on a bench seat and tried our best to get some sleep.
After a restless night we arrived in Udaipur at dawn. Have you ever seen James Bonds Octopussy? It was filmed in Udaipur and each night the hotels play the movie on their rooftops.
Udaipur is everything India should be. The streets are clean and people let you walk around without hassling you. We even saw a dog on a leash!
Whilst out taking in the sights we joined some locals for a spot of cricket. Photo below shows K. McCallum coming around the wicket to D. Rowling. Of course there is huge controversery around the outcome of this delivery, but the massive red cherry on the bat would imply that D. Rowling is in the affirmative.
We also took in a cooking class and helped make four dishes. The end result was a fabulous meal, the stand out dishes being the malai kofta and the yoghurt lassi. We wanted to cook the dishes ourselves sometime in the future so we took unbelievably thorough notes. If you want to try your hand click here.
Random Fact: Udaipur has a magnificent lake. Unfortunately thanks to three years of drought the lake is only half full, or is that half empty?
Highlights:
- Correcting the locals bowling actions to ensure they don't chuck the ball. This is a never ending task, but don't worry we're setting things straight (magic pun!) one young Indian at a time.
- Seeing tigers in the wild. Magnificent animals made even better in their natural habitat
- Rooftops. With quality land space at a premium the Indian backyard is the rooftop. Great for relaxing, unwinding and temporarily escaping India
Lessons Learned:
- Women cook at home (and at cooking classes), men cook at restaurants
- An injured mouse can survive a fall from a second floor window. The husband at the cooking class unwittingly demonstrated this as he literally sent the vermin flying
- Convicts are transported on local buses, albeit in shackles and under armed guard. One such passenger joined us on our overnight bus trip
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